Education Gazette 101.4

11 APRIL 2022 | VOL. 101 | NO. 4

Ngā rangatira mō āpōpō Strengths approach supports young parents

The mitamitaga and mana of names

Digital exchanges foster global citizenship

Instead of endlessly asking kids to pay attention, let’s teach them how.

Pause Breathe Smile is a mind health programme that includes development of students’ inner skills. The programme cultivates self-awareness, attention control and emotional regulation. This allows students to manage themselves better by choosing their behaviours based on mindful attentiveness rather than impulse reactivity.

Southern Cross’ support makes it possible for Pause Breathe Smile PLD to be made available free of charge to any primary or intermediate school.

Train your team. Email Lindy at coordinator@pausebreathesmile.nz

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ISSU E 1 01 .4

Contents Spotlight on learner agency

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Bolstering young parents through strengths-based learning

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Managing a pandemic in a remote community

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Graduating with mana

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Acknowledging the mitamitaga and mana of Māori and Pacific names

4

22

How schools are making informed classroom ventilation choices

26

Lessons in leadership from opening a new school

10

16

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Painting the school with play

36

Ākonga build a love of learning through tuakana-teina

40

Digital exchanges a gift of culture sharing, global awareness

22

Equitable access to relievers among regions

11 APRIL 2022 | VOL. 101 | NO. 4

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Ngā rangatira mō āpōpō Strengths approach supports young parents

The mitamitaga and mana of names

On the cover Page 16. Ākonga graduating from Te Tāhu Rua Reo bilingual unit at Shirley Intermediate School in Ōtautahi Christchurch donned kākahu Māori for an end of year photoshoot, a chance to celebrate and embrace their whakapapa and learnings.

Digital exchanges foster global citizenship

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11 April 2022

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E D UCATION GA ZET TE ON LI N E

Podcast: How to say it right Young entrepreneurs at Bishop Viard College in Porirua talk about the importance of pronouncing Māori and Pacific names correctly, and the tool they created to support people to say it right.

Read: Communities unite in Tairāwhiti Nori Parata, the tumuaki of Tolaga Bay Area School and Kahukuranui, talks about how the community rallied together in Tairāwhiti to support each other through the severe flooding, and subsequent state of emergency.

Read: Digital technologies in education during Covid-19 A report recently released draws on over 40 New Zealand and international research reports and articles as to the experiences of learners, teachers, schools, families and systems during and after the Covid-19 pandemic response.

To view the PLD, general notice listings and vacancies at gazette.education.govt.nz

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STORY IDEAS We welcome your story ideas.

Please email a brief (50-100 words) outline to: reporter@edgazette.govt.nz SUBSCRIPTIONS eleni.hilder@nzme.co.nz VIEW US ONLINE Web: gazette.education.govt.nz Instagram: @edgazettenz Youtube: youtube.com/ edgazettenewzealand

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EDITOR’S NOTE

The leaders of tomorrow

P

oipoia ngā mokopuna, ngā rangatira mō āpōpō. Nurture the youth for they are the future leaders of tomorrow!

This encapsulates so well what we convey in Education Gazette, and so much of what you strive for each day in your classrooms and learning environments.

It’s a mission statement that sits behind many of the articles in this final issue of term 1. In Northland, young māmā are nurtured through a strengths-based approach that keeps them engaged in education, and also in the region, the imagination of primary-aged tamariki is nurtured with a school ground painted in play. In Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, an exchange of knowledge and ideas between tuakana and teina is transforming learning experiences. Utilising digital tools, a similar exchange is connecting New Zealand and Korean children and helping them become global citizens. Nurturing ākonga is also deeply rooted in understanding their identities, and their names. In Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, young

entrepreneurs explain the importance of pronouncing Māori and Pacific names correctly.

Not forgetting one of the biggest challenges at present for our future leaders, we also explore how remote schools on Great Barrier Island are managing Omicron, how schools are making informed classroom ventilation choices, and one Learning Community’s approach to more equitable access to relievers.

I hope this holiday break gives you the well-deserved and much needed opportunity to relax, decompress and refresh all four walls of your wharenui. The leaders of tomorrow need you at your best; for your knowledge, awhi and guidance is one key to a brighter future.

Mā te huruhuru te manu ka rere. Adorn this bird with feathers to fly.

Noho ora mai rā Sarah, chief editor

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YOU NG PARENTS

Bolstering young parents through strengths-based learning A focus on students’ strengths and cultural connections at a Northland teen parent unit is transforming lives and prospects for vulnerable rangatahi and their tamariki.

Layken working with her son Mataatua.

here is no bell to signal the start of the school day at the teen parent unit in Kaikohe, Northland. School starts when the vans arrive. Two vans deliver students and their tamariki from as far as 30km away to the place they come to regard as a second home, Hiwa-i-te-Rangi.

This cheerfully decorated purpose-built unit opened in 2016 and is perched on the edge of farmland used by its umbrella school, Northland College. Out front are feijoa trees in full fruit that the students planted in 2019. Last year students bottled the fruit into jams and chutneys and sold them at a local market.

Mornings start with breakfast for tamariki before their mothers take them to the adjoining early learning centre, Kōwhai Corner. Back at the kura, ākonga prepare for their learning day with breakfast and a karakia.

“We talk about what our energies are like for the day and what’s happening with courses then break it all down into what we’re going to do that day,” says Eleanor Barker, manager of the unit.

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For those who do not whakapapa to a particular whenua, it can also mean a place where empowerment and connection are felt. Ākonga explored tūrangawaewae through writing, research, and visual arts, then travelled together to each other’s special places. There they were introduced to the whenua, papakāinga, whānau, and the histories.

“Writing their stories allows them to share where they’ve come from and allows us to get to know them. It’s also a process of starting anew, thinking about where they want to go,” says Eleanor.

“They can also earn credits very quickly and for some the feeling of achievement is one they have not experienced before.”

Another key goal for the kura is to promote connectivity and a sense of pride in the young māmā through regular contact with kaumātua such as carving tutor Nopera Pikara.

Every Thursday, Nopera works with students to produce a taonga for their pēpi based on whānau stories.

Kaiako earn high praise

Co-designed learning

The mahi of Eleanor and her team was recently acknowledged at the 2021 Prime Minister’s Education Excellence Awards as finalists in the Teaching and Learning section.

Judges were impressed by how kaiako focused on the strengths of their students and how the programme linked young mothers into their education. It was also noted that keeping young mothers engaged in their learning produced better outcomes for their future.

“When we enrol a student, we interview them to find out their passions and interests. We call this discovering the student’s purpose. Then we find projects and subjects and standards that fit in with that purpose,” says Eleanor.

“For example, we have a student whose purpose is healthcare, especially dermatology, because she and her boys have eczema. Her programme last year was creating a healthcare product for eczema sufferers as part of a Young Enterprise Scheme programme (YES). She took biology to better understand how the body works. She didn’t need the credits as much as the experience and the confidence to pursue her passion, and now she plans to enrol in prenursing with North Tec.” The project-based learning includes community involvement from the start, particularly by meeting with locals who have specialist knowledge in the students’ interests.

“Lots of specialists come here to interact with the students whether it’s about cooking, jewellery, careers, parenting, financial literacy, housing, hauora or kapa haka.”

Eleanor describes the learning as personalised and inclusive.

“Students need a voice right from the start about how they want the project to look. The local knowledge is a jumping off point, not everyone doing the same thing.

Students can enrol at any time during the school year and stay enrolled up to age 24. Each student co-designs her individual learning plan with kaiako through an interview, a careers quest and creation of a vision board, “Where do I want to be?”

One young parent, Maria, arrived at 16 with no NCEA credits and stayed the three and a half years she needed to attain Levels 1 and 2. She remains with Hiwa-i-te-Rangi while she plans her career The centre caters for up to 30 students, has had as many as 22 at one time, and currently has a roll of 12. There are four teachers to cover the curriculum except for Biology which is delivered at Northland College, and Maths, Health and Te Reo Māori which are delivered by Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu | The Correspondence School.

The key focus is literacy and numeracy. “A lot of the students come to us without having had continuous

Personal connections

Project work begins with each student writing a personal story; last year’s topic was the concept of tūrangawaewae – tūranga meaning ‘standing place’ and waewae meaning ‘feet’.

11 April 2022

Neville teaches the young parents to drive.

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“We acknowledge that being a parent is hard enough without the extra challenges that many of our young māmā face.

We offer support and encouragement, not just in terms of providing education and work experience but also by being a hub for the social providers in the Far North.”

Eleanor Barker schooling so we have to do a lot of groundwork before they can start on NCEA,” says Eleanor.

“When they arrive, they have little confidence in themselves, and we work hard to build trust.”

Parenting and budgeting courses are delivered inhouse, and ākonga are encouraged to try their hand at business through YES. Engagement is through online programme iQualify which “the students love and hate in equal measures,” says Eleanor. “It’s the hardest thing they do but at the end they are elated.”

One student, Petra, 17, won last year’s Young Enterprise Northland award for commitment. She had created her own business making hoodies for tamariki so they could wear their korowai wherever they go and carry their mana with them.

Another standout student is Pare-Huia, 20, who finished 2021 with three accolades: NCEA Level 3, the highest number of credits that year, and the second-best attendance record. Pare-Huia is still with Hiwa-i-te-Rangi while she plans her career path.

Former students embody the aspirations at the core of Hiwa-i-te-Rangi. Like Alex who graduated at the end of 2019. She completed the Young Enterprise programme that year and now manages Food in Schools at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Taumarere, in Moerewa. She also continues with her own businesses on the side. And Kaz

A place to eat, feed tamariki, and learn to cook.

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who is studying nursing at Massey University.

While academic achievement and transition to further education or work is the goal for these young parents, they have many obstacles to overcome along the way.

“Unstable housing is our number one issue,” says Eleanor.

“If your housing is inadequate, you and your baby get sick all the time. There is no emergency housing available to under-18s and the nearest mother-and-baby unit is in Whangarei which means a move away from everyone they know.”

Creating hope

Some mothers have no or little family support, and most have suffered significant trauma.

It’s this backdrop of adversity that inspired the unit’s name of Hiwa-i-te-Rangi, the youngest star in the Matariki cluster and the star representing hope and aspiration.

“We acknowledge that being a parent is hard enough without the extra challenges that many of our young māmā face. We offer support and encouragement, not just in terms of providing education and work experience but also by being a hub for the social providers in the Far North.”

Teen parents 16 and over are eligible for state assistance Continued on page 8 >

Books for pēpi and their māmā.

gazette.education.govt.nz

Kaumātua such as carving tutor Nopera Pikara help students to strengthen their cultural ties.

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with living costs and childcare, but those under 16 are not.

Under-16s also must keep their babies with them at school rather than enrol them in childcare.

Eleanor and her team try to eliminate all obstacles between the young māmā and their education. Breakfast and lunch are provided and there are two huge cupboards of clothes, one for the māmā and the other for the pēpi.

Students can shower at school, and there is a sleep room for any young mother who has had a bad night.

Most receive a Chromebook through Youth Services, all have a sizeable locker for their possessions, they can wash their clothes in the school’s laundry, and help themselves to supplies of soap, toothbrushes, and sanitary products.

A school nurse works with each māmā to teach them to take care of themselves.

“She helps them to establish an expectation of being treated well, of being worth it,” says Eleanor.

Other holistic support includes weekly access to a counsellor, visits from a Mirimiri/traditional Māori healer, and lessons for cooking and driving.

“Our girls have no one to teach them to drive so Neville, a local driving instructor, comes every week.”

The cost of lessons and the first test is covered by the school’s operational grant, and the Kaikohe Rotary Club pays for students’ full licence tests. The acts of charity go both ways, however, with all girls on duty for Meals on Wheels twice a term.

“We think it’s important to give back and see that other people are struggling too,” says Eleanor.

The young mothers are also encouraged to link in with health and support services such as Ngāpuhi Iwi Social Services, Te Hau Ora ō Kaikohe, Family Start, Plunket and Ngāti Hine Hauora.

Finding purpose

“The māmā say that having a baby is the best thing that’s ever happened to them,” says Eleanor.

“They realise they need to provide for their pēpi longterm, and they start to make positive changes. They love their babies so much, and when I watch their mothering, I feel so proud of them.”

Eleanor says the māmā slowly change learnt behaviours

as they journey from enrolment to graduation.

“Of course, they slip up, but we tell them that nothing they say or do is going to stop us from caring about them, and they gradually come to understand that.

“Their journeys are unique and personal, and when they find their purpose it’s amazing, they have a reason to become stable and get into a good place.”

Strengths-based learning looks like: » One size doesn’t fit all. » Get to know the students. » Make the learning relevant. » What they want changes as they grow as people. » Give them plenty of opportunities to try out different experiences. How will they know if they don’t try? » Reward them for attendance and achievement. » Let them take control of their own learning. » Give them a creative outlet when they need a break.

Link this with project-based learning: » Community involvement is key. Start the community involvement early in the development of the curriculum. This could be trips out or visitors coming to share knowledge. » Learning is personalised and inclusive. Students need a voice right from the beginning on what they want the project to look like. » Learning success is more important than covering achievement objectives. » Don’t make it too hard. If all teachers are working together and it has been co-designed by the students and the community, there will be plenty of support. » Define what skills you want the students to gain from the experience at the end, not necessarily what the outcome is. Skills can be knowledgebased or confidence or behaviour.

Pare-Huia’s story I had a rocky start at Hiwa-i-te-Rangi. I had a lot going on in my personal life and I just wanted to be alone with my baby, Ahurei, so I felt very shy and unsure.

I took some time out to focus on me and my baby, then started back here. This time I pushed myself to make friends with the other māmā and that helped me to become a lot more confident.

Our kaiako Susy and Mary, and our babies make Hiwa very special for me. I love seeing our smiley babies and I love listening to Susy and Mary’s stories from back in their days and how happy they look when they tell their stories.

With Hiwa’s support I have become more confident in myself and my work. Our last teacher, Michele Wilson helped me a lot by being on my case all the time. Our kaiako really push us to achieve and with their support I gained NCEA Level 3, Student of the Year, and the most credits for last year.

This means I will leave Hiwa with the qualifications and certificates I need to study to work in the beauty industry, and to become financially stable for me and Ahurei.

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Pare-Huia graduated as Student of the Year 2021 with NCEA Level 3, the highest number of credits that year, and the second-best attendance record.

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REMOTE C O M MU N ITI ES

Managing a pandemic in a remote community Schools throughout Aotearoa have faced many challenges in managing Covid-19. For schools on Aotea Great Barrier Island, there have been additional challenges due to the remote nature of the community in a ‘world of its own’.

Kaitoke School principal Leo De Beurs helped collect Rapid Antigen Tests to be distributed to schools across the island.

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D

escribing one of the challenges facing Kaitoke School, secretary Tamar Warwick simply says, “only on Great Barrier Island.”

She is referring to a disruptive group that has been vandalising the school, hanging around each day, and who are not afraid of anyone. The perpetrators in question? A group of marauding pigs.

The closeness of wildlife is one of the features of Aotea Great Barrier Island which is situated on the outer edge of the Hauraki Gulf in Aotearoa’s only National Marine Park.

Over 70 percent of the land has landscape and native forest under the protection of the Department of Conservation.

There is broadband access, and currently there is cell phone coverage for most parts of the island.

The island is self-sufficient for power using the sun, wind and generators. Mulberry Grove School principal Allison Gibbs (Ally) says everybody’s power system is unique and can vary between having a car battery for lights, to having a full-blown generator.

“We have solar panels and a backup generator. A diesel generator that we run, but not very often. And we collect the water off the roof.”

“It has been interesting because school has been disrupted the last couple of years. Children need to get back the consistency of going to a learning institution and we’ve really had to get back to reinforcing this is a learning institution.”

Leo De Beurs

Rich learning environment

The island has a permanent population of around 950 people who are serviced by three schools, Kaitoke, Okiwi, and Mulberry Grove, which cater for children in Years 1 to 8.

Okiwi School is located at the northern end of Great Barrier Island where nearly 90 percent of ākonga identify as Māori. They have a strong focus on whānau and community, and foster a sense of belonging in valuing Māori language, culture and identity.

Kaitoke School is situated in the middle of the island. It runs two classrooms and despite the remote location offers older students the opportunity to learn foreign languages online. It also boasts of having an Education Outside the Classroom experience that would rival most schools on the mainland.

“We are fortunate that we have a Hillary Outdoors centre that the children have easy access to,” says principal Leo De Beurs.

At the southern end of the island is Mulberry Grove School. Even though the school is in the more populated end of the island it is still very rural.

“We can just walk through the fence, and we are at the beach. The children can watch the dolphins and the orca swim in,” explains Ally.

All of the schools make use of the local environment to enhance the curriculum, including incorporating ecology and marine life into the learning environment. An interschool swimming competition uses the sea rather than a swimming pool.

As Ally says, “We have a marine environment that is a really rich learning environment. We go sailing, and kayaking is an extra programme for our older students.

“A lot of our local curriculum is based around the environment. We do bush conservation and we’ve got little blue penguins that live nearby, so we conduct the Little Blue Penguin project. We’re also working on the Whale Tail project.”

11 April 2022

Making the most of a unique environment: Kaitoke School's playground is situated in native bush and country.

Limited access to resources

Covid-19 has provided extra challenges for the schools.

One of the major challenges has been the ability to receive supplies.

“We can’t just go to a shop to get what we need. There are some things you can buy here but it is more expensive.

We do rely on the freight service, which has recently been very limited. Some things are taking three to four weeks, when we used to get them overnight. So, our biggest challenge is getting our mail and getting those supply lines,” says Ally.

Mulberry Grove teachers have been limiting their outside contacts by only going to school and not socialising to reduce the chance of becoming unable to teach.

“We do not have relievers, so they [the teaching staff] make sure they’re not going anywhere to socialise. They go to school and come in, then go home, so they are not interacting with anybody outside of the school. It’s about keeping themselves well so that we can continue to keep the school open,” explains Ally.

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Mulberry Grove students working on their Whale Tail project, taking inspiration from the marine environment.

As with the other schools, the size of the community allows Mulberry Grove to build good relationships with the students and their whānau. As well as providing students with learning materials the school has met other needs. Ally describes some of the support given for families having to isolate.

“With any packages, we would deliver them because we could. You know, if it was Easter, we’d send out an Easter pack within two weeks for the families. We are a ‘KidsCan’ school so with any of our supplies we did these up in boxes and delivered food out to our families since we couldn’t feed the children in the school. We had a roster between the teachers calling different families checking in with them and asking if there was anything they needed.”

Support and connection

Mask-wearing has presented some challenges. There are families on the island who do not want their children to wear masks.

“We have to be creative about masks. They [the children] can’t understand why they’ve got to, and others don’t,” says Leo.

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The schools maximise their outdoor surroundings so that students and teachers can have mask-free time.

Ally explains, “Our approach has always been through empathy and care, not judging the family, not pushing, but making sure that no child felt that they would be singled out coming to school.

“So that’s why we put up a marquee off the deck. All the children were outside, we just made sure that they were socially distanced.”

The schools have worked together to provide some support and connectedness. As a recent example, Mulberry Grove picked up the tests from Kaitoke and Tamar, who was going on a camping trip close to Okiwi, dropped off the other tests.

However, Covid-19 has placed limits on this connection. Both Leo and Ally mourn the loss of shared activities that allow the children to engage with each other. They were unable to have interschool swimming, sailing or cross-country. In a small community the ability to interact with peers is very important. Whilst some of the island activity groups have been able to continue, some have not. gazette.education.govt.nz

Getting back into a routine

Re-establishing a routine for the children is also a high priority. According to Leo, “It has been interesting because school has been disrupted the last couple of years. Children need to get back the consistency of going to a learning institution and we’ve really had to get back to reinforcing this is a learning institution.”

This is reinforced by Ally, who says, “It’s been really hard to teach from a distance and it can feel a little bit overwhelming when we see children that are finding it difficult to settle back into routines, because they are used to glide time.”

Leo and Ally are aware that the isolation periods may have created learning gaps for families who were not able to adjust to home schooling. They are preparing for the additional work that might be needed to progress learning growth in these students.

The schools are also conscious of developing skills for the students to cope and deal with the pandemic as well as what life will hold for them beyond the island.

11 April 2022

“We teach and encourage the students to do controlled breathing. This can help them to de-stress.

I will model it at times in class when we need to relax.

I will say to the students, we just need to breathe,” says Ally.

Being in a remote community can present some difficulties but Ally and Leo appreciate the unique nature of Great Barrier Island.

Leo explains, “We’re only half an hour away from Auckland, by plane. So, we’re isolated but we’re not that isolated, and sometimes isolation is a good thing. I have never been stuck in a traffic jam. I don’t have to worry about anything being stolen. I can go out and not lock my house. Those sorts of things make this a special place to be.”

As Ally puts it, “I can sit here in my office and see the tides. I watch the children, and I never want to take any of it for granted. I’ve been here for over 11 years, and every day I still say ‘Wow’.”

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RATs on a plane A senior education advisor took an innovative approach when schools on Great Barrier Island urgently needed Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) – she decided to fly them there herself.

Ingrid Stewart acts as the liaison between the Ministry of Education and schools to build and maintain successful relationships, solve complex problems and to support and implement change initiatives.

Ally, Mulberry Grove School principal, says the plan was “above and beyond”, and it was quite literally that – Ingrid used her flying lesson to deliver the RATs so the community didn’t have to wait too long with freight delays.

Great Barrier Island has a regular delivery schedule, but this had been under strain as a result of Omicron. This meant that the next arranged delivery for the RATs was scheduled for two weeks away at a time when there was a pressing need.

With some cases in the community, Ally says, “Everybody was screaming out for them.”

A plan is devised

The tests needed to get to Great Barrier Island, but the big question was how? Some creative thinking was required.

“I started to think of different things, but each time it was, ‘no that won’t work’. I even joked with Ally that maybe I could swim over there to deliver them,” says Ingrid.

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She was in her aviation class when a brainwave hit her.

“Support is so important, keeping them going – they’re doing a great job but can feel isolated with the geographic distance.

“I asked my instructor if I could do my training lesson to Great Barrier, and he said I could. I rang to organise it and I was told I could go at 1.30pm the next day. I then asked my manager about it. She was supportive. We have a really neat team of colleagues who work hard to support the schools, and we all know with Covid everyone needs a little bit of lifting up.”

Ingrid arrived at the airfield, where two pilots helped her load the RATs into the plane. They supplied large plastic bags as the box she had the RATs in was not suitable for the space at the back of the plane.

The flight took 40 minutes. Upon landing Ingrid was met by Leo, Kaitoke School principal, who helped with transporting the tests to his school for distribution.

“When I met her, she had three big black rubbish bags, plus one of her own bags, full of RATs. She had more that she could give us but came out on a little plane so that was all the room they had,” says Leo. Ally adds, “What Ingrid did makes us feel so completely valued. Sometimes it feels like remote school needs are put into the too hard basket, so to have somebody willing to go such lengths, not just an extra mile, but an extra hundred miles, made us feel like we are important.”

gazette.education.govt.nz

Ingrid Stewart used a flying lesson to deliver Rapid Antigen Tests to Aotea Great Barrier Island.

Aotea Learning Hub on Great Barrier Island In 2016, the community of Aotea Great Barrier Island rallied together in response to low engagement by many students who chose to remain on the island for their secondary schooling.

An ‘Education Steering Group’ explored different models that harness the providers, employers and resources that the island offers to better support their young people.

As part of a pilot proposed for 2017, the students were offered a ‘Learning Hub’ base where students were expected to attend three days per week for core curriculum learning delivered through Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu, with a wrap-around of pastoral support, and two days per week of secondary-tertiary opportunities and/or work experience and training.

With the support of a wide number of collaborative partners, this mahi culminated in the opening of a new Aotea Learning Hub in late March. Funded by the Ministry of Education, the hub is now located on the Kaitoke School grounds, with both the Ministry and Te Kura funding teaching and support staff.

An amazing new STEM resource from Genesis School-gen & Nanogirl Labs •

STEMSTARS brings STEM to life for Year 3 and 4 students through the power of storytelling and fun hands-on activities.

•

Tamariki will learn about eight exciting STEM topics.

•

Everything teachers need to deliver STEM lessons with confidence.

Keep an eye out for more information in a future edition of Education Gazette or online at gazette.education.govt.nz

“Some things are taking three to four weeks, when we used to get them overnight. So, our biggest challenge is getting our mail and getting those supply lines.”

Allison Gibbs

11 April 2022

Find out more at

schoolgen.co.nz/stemstars

BI LI NGUAL LEARN I NG

Graduating with mana Ākonga graduating from Te Tāhu Rua Reo bilingual unit at Shirley Intermediate School last year received a very special gift from their kaiako – a stunning image of themselves in kākahu Māori.

K

aiako at Te Tāhu Rua Reo bilingual unit wanted to do something special for their tamariki graduating in 2021, a memory to treasure of their time in the unit. “Ākonga had missed out on the celebration of kapa haka because of pandemic restrictions and therefore had not had the opportunity to dress up and perform,” says Whaea Ang Reeves.

“The students hadn’t been able to see themselves in Māori dress. In some ways, they hadn’t been able to feel or be seen as ākonga Māori, in the way that they had expected when they joined the class.”

Matua Thomas Parata and Whaea Ang, decided to arrange for the children to don traditional Māori dress and have individual portrait photography sessions.

When initial enquiries to photographers indicated too

high a price tag, they looked to the school community for support. Resource teacher Māori Gaynor Hakaria, Kaiarahi Whaea Adrienne, and a photographer friend of Ang, Trevor White, all stepped up.

“I explained my vision for the photos, that students would see their Māori selves in the mirror looking back at them,” says Ang. Gaynor’s mother, a weaver, loaned kākahu/cloaks and other taonga, Adrienne took care of styling, and the photography sessions began.

Across one day, all graduating ākonga were dressed, styled, and photographed, and Trevor then superimposed the children’s images onto his shots of spectacular scenery of Arthur’s Pass in Kā Tiritiri o te Moana, the Southern Alps.

Kaiako and friends in the community spent a day styling, dressing and photographing ngā tamariki.

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“We place immense value on te reo me ōna tikanga at Shirley Intermediate School. For many of our students, Te Tāhu Rua Reo is their first introduction to te ao Māori, te reo Māori and tikanga Māori.”

Thomas Parata A taonga to remember

Thomas explains that they wanted to create a photo of the students as a gift to them and their whānau for the two years spent in Te Tāhu Rua Reo – a lasting taonga.

“The students were a little anxious about having their photographs taken but once they were dressed and styled, they rose to the occasion. We wanted to give them a bit of mana, and as they prepared for the shoot and then posed, they stood a little stronger, a little taller.

“We place immense value on te reo me ōna tikanga at Shirley Intermediate School. It is the only intermediate school in the Canterbury region with a bilingual unit attached and for many of our students, Te Tāhu Rua Reo is their first introduction to te ao Māori, te reo Māori and tikanga Māori.”

There are 42 students in the unit, more than double the roll of just two years ago – an increase Thomas attributes to the teacher student ratio of 1:18, the high achievement levels across curriculum, and the exceptional opportunities for cultural learning.

Last year, ākonga were able to carve their own pounamu with five days’ full instruction from a visiting agency, Tu Hono, and to paddle waka up Ōtākaro/Avon River.

Around 30 percent of the school’s roll of 150 identify as Māori, but the only criteria to enrol in Te Tāhu Rua Reo is that they agree to be taught 50 to 80 percent of the time in te reo Māori.

“When they saw their photographs for the first time, they felt very empowered, they had mana,” says Ang. She adds that ākonga looked at their pictures for a long time and were happy to share good thoughts and words of encouragement with each other, especially of the group photos, and that the parents loved them.

“One parent said she cried because the image was such a celebration of her child being Māori. And one of our students said that until she saw her photograph, she had never imagined herself as Māori, but now that she could see herself, she realised she was fully Māori.”

The images are a lasting memory of Te Tāhu Rua Reo. For some it was the first time they saw themselves as Māori.

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I D E NTIT Y

Acknowledging the mitamitaga and mana of Māori and Pacific names A group of passionate, business-savvy students from Bishop Viard College in Porirua have developed a website to improve pronunciation of Māori and Pacific names.

Mannfred, Rico and To'e stand proud behind faamalosi.com.

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hat’s in a name? Often, a great deal – particularly for Māori and Pacific peoples. A name is whakapapa, family, history, community, culture and identity.

Bishop Viard College students Mannfred Sofara and To’e Lokeni say all names are gifts and often rich in meaning.

But, many go through life having their name mangled, and hearing it mispronounced constantly can be a challenge. For To’e, he knows this feeling all too well.

“My name To’e came from my grandpa on my mum’s side. I think that’s why I cared so much when somebody mispronounced it because I knew it was important to my family, so it was important to me.

“It’s not the best feeling, of course. Especially when I’d correct them, but they would still mispronounce my name multiple times.”

Brainstorming a solution

Mannfred, To’e, and a group of eight other Year 13 Bishop Viard ākonga worked together to create a website that helps New Zealanders say Māori and Pacific names correctly.

“We sat down at a table and brainstormed common problems. One of the ideas that came up was how we all had our first or last names mispronounced. We took about a day to think of a solution – a website to help with pronunciation,” says To’e.

In September last year, the students launched their website Fa’amalosi (Be strong) – Say it Right. The website now features more than 800 names in six languages and has over 1,400 subscribers.

The Fa’amalosi – Say it Right subscription has a oneoff price of $4.99 and features names in Māori, Samoan, Tokelauan, Fijian, Cook Island, Tongan, and Kiribati.

Users can click on the names to hear how to pronounce

them correctly and read them phonetically.

Mannfred and To’e say that by putting in the work and having a great team behind them, they also gathered help from students, teachers and their community.

“We reached out to many people, who came through with their knowledge. This was helpful for us because we couldn’t do it all ourselves. You can see it as a group project with our entire community.”

Advice for educators

Mannfred and To’e hope teachers will use the website to learn how to pronounce students’ names on their roll correctly.

“It’s just that moment when a teacher incorrectly says a student’s name, and you can see the student feel so uncomfortable. For the first day, what kind of welcome is that?” says Bishop Viard deputy principal Gina Lefaoseu.

Gina’s advice to other educators is to try to learn students’ names and do your research.

“Doing your research is important. It tells the student that you care and acknowledge that a name comes with much history and mana. It tells you who you are, where you’re from and your culture.”

Gina says she wanted the Fa’amalosi group to realise they could excel in business and technology. Her approach to their learning has involved providing the students with opportunities outside the classroom. Gina advises other educators with budding young entrepreneurs to do the same.

“Look at your classroom environment. How much joy are they having? If they’re having joy, they’ll learn. Let the students lead, and provide lots of different opportunities outside the classroom to prepare them for the real world,” she says.

“My name To’e came from my grandpa on my mum’s side. I think that’s why I cared so much when somebody mispronounced it because I knew it was important to my family, so it was important to me.”

To’e Lokeni

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Bustling business journey

From articles and live television to radio and podcasts, Mannfred and To’e and the eight other Fa’amalosi members have been given fantastic opportunities during their business journey.

“Reflecting back to Year 12, we didn’t think we’d come this far into our business. We’ve received opportunities to go on the Morning Show with John Campbell, we went on The Project and our local Samoan Radio. We’re also waiting on a New Zealand Today episode with Guy Williams,” says To’e.

“All these opportunities gave us great experiences.

We’ve learned how to face our fears and have improved on our public speaking. If you asked us these questions at the start of Year 12, we probably wouldn’t be answering this much.”

The students entered their idea in the Young Enterprise National Awards 2021 and took out the Gallagher Award for Smart Technology.

When asked about their plans for 2022, Mannfred and To’e say their group is looking into developing an app.

“We’ve been given a certain amount of money to turn our website into an app. We want to turn it into an app because it is easier to access for everybody,” says To’e.

“Doing your research is important. It tells the student that you care and acknowledge that a name comes with much history and mana. It tells you who you are, where you’re from and your culture.”

Gina Lefaoseu

Ready to Say it Right? Karawhiua, give it a go and head over to faamalosi.com.

Bishop Viard deputy principal, Gina Lefaoseu is passionate about providing students with opportunities outside the classroom.

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ADVERTORIAL

Te Whāriki translated for Chinese educators Chinese-background teachers and educators can now access New Zealand’s early childhood education curriculum,Te Whāriki, in their own language.

A Mandarin translation of Te Whāriki has been produced by Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood New Zealand with permission of the Ministry of Education.

It is supported by 12 videos in Mandarin covering a range of teaching topics based on Te Whāriki.

“In our culturally diverse country, the ability for other cultures to have Te Whāriki in their language supports the vision of children as competent and confident learners and communicators, secure in their sense of belonging,” says Te Rito Maioha Chief Executive Kathy Wolfe.

“We saw an opportunity to ensure language is no barrier for Chinese background teachers, educators or parents to support children to learn in their own way, with adults who know them and have their best interests at heart.”

"The Mandarin translation supports Chinesebackground teachers and educators to reflect Te Whāriki in their teaching practice. It also supports ECE services to engage Chinesebackground families in their children's learning."

Around quarter-of-a-million people in New Zealand identify as part of the Chinese ethnic group and Chinese language speakers make up 2% of NZ’s population*, around 95,250 people.

Te Rito Maioha International Advisor and Lecturer Hongwei Di says early childhood education is highly regarded in both cultures, but New Zealand’s play-based and inquiry-based learning environment is different from the more structured Chinese ECE environment.

As a Chinese teacher arriving in New Zealand, she says she was inspired by Te Whāriki’s emphasis on respecting each child’s cultural roots, language and identity.

Kiddz Homebased Childcare Director Veronica Kidd says the translation has proved valuable both for visiting teachers and Chinese homebased educators when planning and evaluating children’s learning.

“It enables our Chinese home-based educators to independently strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the children’s learning.

Reading your own language is so much more meaningful than relying on a third party translating through discussion. And it validates our educators’ language, culture and identity.”

Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood New Zealand is a membership organisation and leading provider of teacher training, new knowledge and best practice for early childhood education, nationally and internationally. *Figures from 2018 NZ Census

Te Whāriki (Mandarin) now available for purchase

Order your physical copy at

www.ecnz.ac.nz/tewhariki

Epuni School student Mercy holding one of the portable CO2 monitors used to help assess ventilation.

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VENTI L ATION

How schools are making informed classroom ventilation choices As part of their Covid-19 response work, schools across Aotearoa New Zealand are using portable CO2 monitors to assess the amount of fresh air in indoor spaces and adjusting the way those spaces are used based on that data and ventilation advice from Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga | The Ministry of Education.

G

ood ventilation is an important tool in the armoury of defence from transmission of Covid-19, and especially valuable in a classroom setting.

The amount of CO2 in a space generally gives an indication of how well-ventilated it is, with lower levels of CO2 meaning there is more fresh air. It’s a useful metric, which is why every state or state-integrated school in Aotearoa has now received at least one portable CO2 monitor (unless it opted-out due to already having fixed CO2 monitors), with more to be distributed over the next couple of months to schools with rolls of more than 250 students.

Portable CO2 monitors have been used by schools in a number of ways, including being incorporated into lessons and appointing students to record results. One school that has used the information provided by its portable CO2 monitor to improve its approach to ventilation is Epuni School in Lower Hutt.

Harnessing data to inform change

Principal Janet Evans says her school has used the data from their portable CO2 monitor to inform the way different spaces are used and adapt their approach as required, leading to good results.

“Our staff and students are monitoring and recording the CO2 level in their classrooms throughout the day to track the impact of opening different combinations of windows and doors. What they’ve seen in real time is the

positive effect of natural ventilation letting clean, fresh air into the room.”

Janet says one of the first steps for the school was taking stock of what it already had in terms of windows and doors that could be used to improve ventilation, including those that had been overlooked or forgotten about.

“There are fire exit doors in our cloak bays that weren’t often used before, which have been helpful for increasing airflow now that they’re frequently open. We also made a point of fixing windows that were broken or stuck so that we could open them,” she says.

The school has noticed the positive cumulative impact of lots of little tweaks, including some minor property improvements and changes to the day-to-day use of spaces.

“Teachers have been diligent about opening windows, which has a big impact. Things that seem small, like taking a class outside for a five-minute fresh air break, can make a significant difference to the CO2 levels in a classroom too. We’ve also moved activities like singing, dancing and eating lunch outside.

“In the current environment, understanding the science behind ventilation and the impact of opening windows and doors has given our students a sense of control – the knowledge has been empowering for them.

They can take home what they’re learning about good ventilation and share it with their whānau too.”

“Things that seem small, like taking a class outside for a five-minute fresh air break, can make a significant difference to the CO2 levels in a classroom.”

Janet Evans

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Epuni School principal Janet Evans shows ākonga how the CO2 monitor works.

Backed by science

Most schools in Aotearoa are designed for natural ventilation which means they have lots of windows and doors that can be opened to allow the flow of fresh air.

As Epuni School has found, this is the fastest and best way to ventilate a space and it’s an approach that aligns with a recent study by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), as well as other local and international research and expert opinion.

Dr Ian Longley from NIWA says their recent study found that good ventilation could be achieved in most of the classrooms by opening windows and doors, with the most effective ventilation achieved by opening windows and doors on different sides of the room to create a crossflow of air where possible.

“Our study has endorsed the evidence-based approach to ventilation that’s been taken in New Zealand schools from the start. While we’ve now verified the role of natural ventilation and fresh air, we’ll be using this study as a

basis for some more research looking at other ventilation improvement tools for schools like extractor fans and assisted natural ventilation systems,” says Ian. Heading into the cooler months it will be important for schools to continue self-assessing the CO2 levels in spaces that may be more challenging to ventilate well so any issues can be raised with its Ministry property advisor and resolved.

To assist with this, there will soon be additional CO2 monitors distributed to larger schools. The Ministry has also started deploying portable air cleaners to some schools throughout Aotearoa, which in most cases will be a temporary or interim targeted solution for use in areas with specific ventilation challenges. By the end of May all schools will be eligible to receive one or more portable air cleaners, for use in areas that may have higher Covid-19 airborne transmission risk due to the nature of their use, like staff rooms, music rooms and high-use meeting or break-out rooms.

“Our study has endorsed the evidence-based approach to ventilation that’s been taken in New Zealand schools from the start.”

Dr Ian Longley

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BULLYING-FREE NEW ZEALAND WEEK, 16-20 MAY 2022

“ If everybody says something, we can change everything. ”

When the whole school community, students, staff and whānau, work together to address bullying, positive, ongoing change happens.

Visit www.bullyingfree.nz: Download a student action pack: Produced by students for students, by youth-led bullying prevention organisation Sticks ‘n Stones.

Download a teacher’s pack, with ideas for empowering learners to take action to address bullying and promote wellbeing.

TAKE THE LEAD

SPREAD THE WORD

MAKE A CHANGE

Spread the word and aroha: Encourage the school community to get involved by nominating a Local Legend and shine light on their mahi. #BullyingFreeNZ

For more information and resources visit: www.bullyingfree.nz or email info@bullyingfree.nz

Amesbury School opened in 2012 and now caters for about 300 students.

LEAD ERSH I P

Lessons in leadership from opening a new school Dr Lesley Murrihy is a chief advisor for Te Poutāhū, the Ministry of Education’s Curriculum Centre, with an extensive career in education spanning 40 years. She shares key learnings as the foundation principal for Amesbury School in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington.

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here was surprisingly little information available about starting a new school in May 2011, when I took up the position to get Amesbury School ready for opening in 2012. And this was a very different school and community from the one I was currently leading.

It was the first new school to be built in Wellington for 25–30 years, so it was to be a new experience all around.

However, I did possess this deep confidence that I would be able to work it out as I went along. This did not mean that I did not frequently experience imposter syndrome, wondering what on earth I was doing.

But we made it through, and I am now able to unpack some experiences and share a few leadership learnings that I feel might be useful generally for leaders, not just for those who have been given the privilege of opening a new school.

We began with a significant problem as probably all new schools do: “How do you get a whole community of people to join you on an uncertain journey, when what you are offering is very different from what they are used to, and they are perfectly happy with what they currently have?”

Research into school effectiveness is very clear, the relationship between home and school is essential for quality education. In fact, many writers argue that this relationship is one of the most powerful forces in education. However, our challenge was not initially one of opening up a space for parents to become more involved in their child’s learning, we were asking them to give up what they saw as a “certain” education to join us on an “unknown and, potentially, uncertain” journey.

The background

One timeless learning is that all conflict is most effectively addressed when we assume the good intent of the other.

When faced with unfair negative feedback or criticism, we would allow ourselves a moment to complain, whinge and be defensive and then we would move on and try to see the issue from the perspectives of the parent/complainant. We would begin to see that there was an issue to be addressed and we could create a plan.

We realised that it was immaterial whether good intent was intended or not, but that if we acted as though there was good intent, then the outcome would always be better.

We were more likely to enter the conversation or begin writing the email with a positive attitude and our hearts in the right place, and often the conflict would simply resolve itself.

Sometimes people just wanted to be heard and didn’t want anything more done about it. Sometimes, we would realise that we had allowed the initial moment

Amesbury School was conceived in response to rapid growth in the suburb of Churton Park, Wellington. The existing Churton Park School had been built in the 1970s for 300 or so students and was now bursting at the seams with over 500 students.

A ministerially-appointed Establishment Board of Trustees (EBOT) was chosen from nominations by Churton Park community groups and the birthing of Amesbury School began.

This was expected to be a school that would explore what education can look like in the 21st Century. The Board embraced this objective, and, along with the vision and values developed through community consultation, developed two further principles: the first one related to celebrating our bicultural heritage as New Zealanders and the multicultural nature of Churton Park and the second one, to a focus on environmental sustainability.

Assume good intent

The school is in a northern suburb of Wellington, Churton Park.

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of defensiveness to carry on for too long and we would have to cut it off and very deliberately move into the understanding phase.

Winning over the community

Recruitment of students is a hugely important function of the foundation leadership of a new school. There will be no school if there is no community.

So how do you get a whole community of people to join you on an uncertain journey? The first answer is to present a new vision for education and, in doing so, provide a reason for making the change. A second answer I have decided is … you woo them.

Wooing a school community requires commitment, faithfulness and unconditional regard. As in all good novels, the road to true love is never smooth, and faithfulness gets sorely tested. This is certainly true of our journey. I read somewhere that embracing change means daring to be different and accepting that people may strike at your idea like it’s a piñata. How true this is.

When you embark on a road that is different, you can be sure that many people will strike at your ideas and this has the power to unsettle everyone on the journey. It can make you doubt yourself as the leader, and it will certainly cause a strain to relationships.

My mentor and coach, Colin Prentice, gave me some very sage advice after collecting some very positive feedback from the community in our first year of operation: “Don’t ever sit on your laurels. It only takes a moment of time for the tide to turn. You always need to be winning your community.”

In our experience, winning the school community began with capturing their minds, and beginning to capture their hearts. It then required our being faithful over time. During this time, there was a greater responsibility on us to maintain and strengthen the relationships.

Through this faithfulness, community members became more deeply engaged and the relationships became more robust. However, as I have already said,

“We were engaged in a deliberate process of being faithful to our school community. It was important for them to see that what we had said would be important to the school, was important.”

Lesley Murrihy

Amesbury School was developed as a 21st Century learning environment for all ākonga.

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this is a never-ending story, and we realise that we will always need to continue to be faithful, to keep working at engaging our community, strengthening relationships and developing trust.

Café sessions

In a series of café sessions, we presented information that was significant in engaging the hearts and minds of our community. These were opportunities to send some significant messages about what would be important at Amesbury School.

We thought carefully about these messages, and we were very deliberate in our planning. We focused on creating a rich, positive experience, rather than just “doing” a meeting.

We were to be a “family” school, so we planned our sessions for early evening and children were invited and catered for. Activities were provided for the children so that parents could then focus on the more formal part of the sessions.

We chose a café setting so that it would have a warmer atmosphere and encourage participation. People arrived and we provided good coffee, tasty food and a convivial atmosphere.

At the first information session, I showed the RSA Animates Changing Educational Paradigms YouTube clip with Sir Ken Robinson speaking. This provided the big picture rationale for developing Amesbury School as a 21st Century learning environment. It resonated and people got it. Many commented that through that brief presentation, they had made quite big cognitive shifts in their thinking. Through a very simple but effective presentation that connected the dots for them, their minds had been “captured” – at least initially.

A second information session was much more interactive. We asked parents to talk together and record their thoughts on the kind of school culture they wanted and what was important to them about such issues as behaviour management. We also demonstrated that student voice and agency would be important at Amesbury School. At these meetings, students had the opportunity to provide feedback on things like uniforms and school furniture. We carried out surveys and students tested the comfort of particular pieces of furniture, and we honoured their voices.

We deliberately planned for there to be strong alignment between what we believed about teaching and learning and the format and content of our initial information sessions. This was a hugely impactful strategy, and I think our focus on ensuring alignment from day one, stands the school in good stead even today – 10 or so years later.

Dr Lesley Murrihy.

“We realised that it was immaterial whether good intent was intended or not, but that if we acted as though there was good intent, then the outcome would always be better.”

Lesley Murrihy

Ākonga played an active role in the design of the school, including uniforms and furniture.

Disclosing who you are as a leader

My increasing preference as a leader is to lead more from the wings rather than from centre stage. As much as I preferred to put the educational philosophy and vision for the new school at the forefront and position myself in the shadows behind it, intuitively I realised that people had their eyes on me as a person. They were not, first and

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foremost, entrusting their children to a philosophy or ideas, but they were entrusting their precious children to a person.

I have discovered over time that John C Maxwell’s adage that, “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care” is true and so I intentionally got in close, realising that, in the absence of anything else for the community at this time, it was about me. If they found me genuine and believable, they were more likely to find the school believable.

The workload of setting up a new school from scratch was huge and we were often drowning in detail, for example, making decisions about minute things like the height of hand basins or toilets or deciding on the placement of power outlets.

It would have been easy to get stuck at the office, swamped in the detail of school buildings, but with the encouragement and support of the establishment board, I made meeting and being available to the community in formal and informal ways, a priority. I very deliberately tried to be as open and transparent in every meeting as possible, letting those present see who I am – my passion for education and for family, my sense of social justice and care for people.

Continually responsive

The first year or so was particularly difficult for our parents. Not only were they being challenged by family, friends and other educationalists about their decision to move their children to that “hippy” school, they were having to defend the school against continual misinformation.

We spent the first year continually reassuring parents that their decision to move to Amesbury School was the right one. Needless to say, this was very tiring for us, but completely understandable and an absolutely essential aspect of our role as new school staff.

Throughout the year, we were engaged in a deliberate process of “being faithful” to our school community. It was important for them to see that what we had said would be important to the school, was important. We had to ensure good academic results, the happiness and wellbeing of ākonga, while developing learning programmes that reflected the learning approaches we had espoused.

We had to develop every system, every structure, every process and every relationship. It was a big ask and we found ourselves in a process of being continually responsive to parental concerns.

Another example of responsiveness related to curriculum. Our first ever inquiry topic lent itself to doing maths, reading and writing very authentically. It quickly became clear to us that the skill-based learning in the core curriculum areas was so well disguised within the inquiry that when children went home and were asked by their parents whether they did reading today, the children said no. Asked whether they did maths today, they said no.

As you can imagine, some members of our school community became quite concerned.

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We did several things in response to this concern – we put teacher planning online so that parents could see that students were receiving instruction in reading, writing and maths even if it was within an inquiry focus.

We made sure we used the terms reading, writing and maths in our communications with home including putting photos on the school blog of children doing skill-based sessions.

With students, we made sure that we used the language of reading, writing and maths. For example, when they were putting together a shopping list for camp food and they had to work out quantities, we made sure teachers named it mathematics.

This relieved some anxiety and concern, and for parents, the story of learning at Amesbury School grew bigger as they became more deeply aware that our school wasn’t just about “new-fangled, progressive ideas”, but it also valued traditional subjects, and which we thought we had communicated clearly about.

However, we learned that communicating about learning was a process of continual responsiveness to parental concerns and that we needed to communicate in ways that linked with what parents understood.

We discovered that for it to be faithfulness, responsiveness needs to be more than a PR exercise or a perception management thing (though it may also be that) but needs to include genuine openness and willingness to inquire into our educational practices and approaches – an inquiry that will often continue long after the concerns have been addressed.

Leadership is a complex, difficult, frustrating journey, but it is also exciting, fulfilling, gives meaning to life and is needed right now.

Winning a community In summary, you need to: » capture the mind » begin to engage the heart » be faithful over time » capture the heart » keep being faithful.

Read more from Lesley in her online blog: futureofeducation.nz.

Read this article online to see what Lesley suggests as the key aspects of leadership in 2022.

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ADVERTORIAL

Ground markings inspire tamariki to invent games.

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L EARN I NG TH RO UGH PL AY

Painting the school with play Coloured markings have brightened up the grounds and inspired more physical and interactive play at Kamo School in Northland.

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eachers at Kamo Primary School take play very seriously. It is not something ngā tamariki “just do”, says team leader Renee Lowther.

She and new entrant teacher Nicki White are devising ways to encourage more imaginative play opportunities for ākonga.

“Some children come to school having spent as long as 30 hours on a device during the weekend. There is a real need for play especially in the senior school,” says Renee.

“We want to pull back the layers of iPads and gaming, and encourage children to move and interact.”

According to research published by Sport New Zealand, play allows children to experience fun, joy and laughter in a way that is important to them. It’s also where they develop and practise life skills.

Positive benefits of play include being physically active in a fun way that develops fundamental movement, encouraging self-directed creativity and innovation, improving social and emotional connection, and improving resilience, independence, and leadership by allowing tamariki to determine their own outcomes.

As a new entrant teacher, Nicki facilitates learning through play every day.

“The new entrant rooms look very similar to those

of kindergartens,” says Nicki, who was a kindergarten teacher for 15 years before joining the primary school.

There’s a family corner with dress ups, dolls and a play kitchen, and spaces for art, Lego, reading and meeting. The familiarity of the layout and activities ease the transition from early learning programmes to primary school meaning that ngā tamariki are settling in quickly, she says. And the environment supports a more engaged approach to reading, writing and maths.

Colouring the grounds

Renee and Nicki reached out to local Healthy Active Learning facilitator Natalie Wilcock, a regular visitor to the school, for ideas.

She suggested decorating the expansive sealed areas of the school grounds with coloured markings for games such as hopscotch, te reo Māori hopscotch, an alphabet number trail, a compass, and a numbers grid.

“Natalie came in and drew chalk markings to see if the children would engage and it was a hit. Children were so excited and were on it all the time, not just at break times but when moving from the classroom to the library, for example.”

“We often think of play as being centred around equipment, but we have found this is a good tonic, the children can be creative. It also provides a great brain break and circuit breaker for behaviour.”

Sally Wilson

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There was hopscotch, number lines and shapes, and Natalie took direction from ngā tamariki, both verbal and drawn.

“Their responses came immediately and with great energy from children right across the school.”

The school applied successfully for $25,000 from Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa which funds programmes delivering play and sport for tamariki and rangatahi.

Renee and Nicki engaged Cambridge-based company Aceline Services to install permanent markings during the summer holidays, an assignment that was completed within one day during the summer break. The “Play on the Way” trail was ready for use.

“They were really good to deal with, very accommodating,” says Renee. “They had a booklet with templates for us to choose from so we did a lot of measuring and sent them photos of our spaces with requests for what we wanted where.

Our caretaker Rob Johnson was extremely helpful.

Some courts had faded markings and we covered those with similar markings.”

The finished work was a little different to how Renee had imagined.

“To be honest, I was a little disappointed at first because I thought the activity lines would promote structured movement, but they are just markings, suggestions for play. But when I saw how the kids were using them to create their own games, I thought ‘wow, this is so cool!’ When they line up for swimming, they don’t just stand there anymore, they ‘Play on the Way!’”

Playing proves infectious

Kamo School ākonga adore their decorated playground and the many games they inspire.

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The markings, which begin just inside the school gate and continue around and across all sealed areas, invite everyone – ākonga, staff and visitors alike – to run, jump and hop either alone or alongside any number of friends.

“It’s quite infectious,” says principal Sally Wilson.

“It’s bright, it’s colourful and it’s given the school a face lift. Parents join in too and it is encouraging to the very tired child being picked up at 5 o’clock from after school care. Dad picks them up and starts hopping along the markings to the gate and they join in.

“And it’s totally inclusive, it doesn’t upset any child with additional needs. It’s a different kind of play, a different way of moving around the school, and every child is finding their way of using it.”

The markings are also promoting more imaginative play.

“The biggest thing is how the children have started inventing games, their imagination has come back through painted lines and colour shapes,” says Sally.

“We often think of play as being centred around

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equipment, but we have found this is a good tonic, the children can be creative. It also provides a great brain break and circuit breaker for behaviour.”

The funding also stretched to the purchase of 10 Magic Play Boxes, huge crates filled with upcycled materials such as tubes, tyres, ropes, and wood, designed to trigger inventiveness in the playground.

These boxes will be introduced gradually so ngā tamariki are not overwhelmed, says Renee, and the children will be invited to have a say in how the gear is used and stored.

“We are a Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) school, and we’d like to use a tuakana-teina approach to using the gear with the seniors taking some ownership.”

The new ground markings have inspired ākonga to be more inventive with play.

Artificial turf for sports courts, playgrounds and landscaping areas

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info@teamturf.co.nz

www.teamturf.co.nz Tukutuku Kōrero

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Technology is a big focus at Fruitvale School.

TUAKANA-TEI NA

Ākonga build a love of learning through tuakana-teina The introduction of tuakana-teina classrooms is transforming learning experiences for tamariki at Fruitvale School in West Auckland.

T

uakana-teina is a concept from te ao Māori and refers to the relationship between an older (tuakana) person and a younger (teina) person. Within teaching and learning contexts, this can take a variety of forms such as peer to peer, younger to older, older to younger, or able/expert to less able/expert.

Like many schools, Fruitvale has a diverse range of learners, including those who experience anxiety, find it hard to settle, or need more support with disruption and trauma.

To address this, the leadership team analysed data across the school and extended a tuakana-teina approach already in use in the technology classroom.

Technology teacher Shobek Singh led the change.

“I use a lot of technology and integrated that learning into reading, writing, mathematics and other areas of the curriculum, which showed a lot of progress for students,” he says.

Through conversations with the principal, Shobek says they strategised ways that all curriculum subjects could be taught in the first teaching block of the day, while utilising the second and third blocks of the day to take the tuakana to other classrooms and share their knowledge on digital fluency and literacy with the teina.

Programme success

After a couple of years, Shobek noticed that colleague Erin France’s junior classes were highly engaged and asking for more tuakana-teina.

Shobek and Erin joined forces and led the school’s first tuakana-teina MLE in 2021 with tamariki sharing all learning time in literacy, maths, inquiry, and technology, as well as choosing to spend play times together. Progress was impressive, especially in the context of extreme disruption caused by lengthy lockdowns in Auckland.

“We’ve noticed a real increase in the juniors’ oral language skills as they’re getting vocabulary that they were not getting before. They’re also able to engage in the same learning that Year 5 and 6 ākonga are,” says Erin.

After presenting to the Board where the data clearly showed the growth in learning, the school decided to extend the tuakana-teina model to a second MLE this year, meaning 90 of the 420 students are in full-time junior-senior classrooms.

Culture of wellbeing

“We have noticed that the older students look after and foster the wellbeing of the younger ones,” says Erin.

“If someone falls over, they’ll come to ask for a plaster,

“Even when their parents are wanting to keep them home to be safe during the pandemic, they want to come and spend time learning.

They don’t want to take a day off, they don’t want to miss out, they want to be part of their school whānau.”

Shobek Singh

11 April 2022

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and look after each other until they have tackled the issue.

There’s a real culture of care both for each other and for their environment.”

Shobek adds, “We also notice that when there’s an incident at lunchtime, the teina will automatically look for a tuakana from their class instead of asking a teacher for help.”

He has also observed leadership skills growing amongst the senior students.

“I have the luxury of taking my tuakana into a teina environment to lead, while fostering and nurturing the teina at their own pace and being a positive behavioural role model.

“The tuakana realise ‘If I act up, my buddy who is sitting next to me might act up too.’ We haven’t asked them to sit together, they have just taken it upon themselves to do that,” says Shobek.

“It’s quite funny how they manage each other’s behaviour,” adds Erin. “If one of the teina isn’t sitting properly, their tuakana will say, ‘You need to sit properly, it’s time to listen now’.”

The tamariki themselves are vociferous in their preference for the whānau class.

“Even when their parents are wanting to keep them home to be safe during the pandemic, they want to come and spend time learning. They don’t want to take a day off, they don’t want to miss out, they want to be part of their school whānau,” says Shobek.

Conversations with parents have changed, too.

“They used to ask, ‘Is my child going to be left behind because he is a senior and he’s working with juniors?’ But by the end of the year, we had multiple phone calls and emails from parents asking if their child could be in the tuakanateina room.”

Creative thinking

For Shobek and Erin, the mahi is both challenging and rewarding, and requires a lot of creative thinking.

“We were running a virtual reality lesson and the teina were not joining in, they were silent,” says Erin.

“We asked ourselves how to encourage them and provide them with an opportunity to have a voice. We talked about the fact that creativity can decline as you get older, that young students can have more creativity than older students.

“We really sold it to those five and six-year-olds and we now hear their voices emerging, particularly during STEM activities.”

Science, technology and creativity are a big focus at Fruitvale. Robotics, coding, 3D printing, virtual and augmented reality and laser-cutters are all on offer, and the school has its own radio station and web group.

A typical presentation by ākonga will include use of virtual and augmented reality, PlayStation, and robots.

Shobek’s tuakana regularly lead technology lessons throughout the school with robots, drones and much more. This provides an opportunity for both tuakana and teina to grow their strengths and skills in the digital technologies curriculum content.

“A teacher may come and ask for ideas to help and change their mindset towards writing, and we’ll plan together based on students’ strengths.

“The other day, the tuakana used Spheros in a teina classroom. The tamariki used Lego and chairs to create a maze to drive the Spheros through, which became a writing provocation that links to the key focuses at Fruitvale. The tuakana used scientific vocabulary with the teina, so the teacher could promote learning the

Tuakana like to stay with teina even during break times.

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next day, with the unpacking of the new language and concepts.

“If we go to a senior classroom, it’s the same but more complex. We decorated the Spheros to create different modes of transport and raced to see which one was the fastest. We looked at how speed was another scientific concept affected by the weight of the load being carried.”

In another lesson, tamariki used PlayStation, Lego, robots and VR to create a marae and learn about Te Tiriti o Waitangi. They created a scene of what William Hobson might have seen when he arrived, and what Māori saw when Hobson arrived.

“We asked, ‘How do you introduce yourself if you’re Māori and you do not speak English and you want to introduce yourself to someone who only understands English?’ They created pepeha and a waka and used pictures to decorate them.

“Everything is linked. Reading, writing and mathematics are not separate, they are integrated, and we show the tuakana and the teina that you can enjoy and interact creatively while learning.”

Shobek says the Fruitvale kaiako focus on ensuring that every student can demonstrate 21st Century skills (creativity, critical-thinking, communication and collaboration) and the school values (respect, responsibility, risk-taking, reflection and resilience).

“We want to be a pioneer of education in New Zealand and have more of these tuakana-teina classrooms.”

Kaiako have observed that the senior children have developed excellent leadership skills.

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Ākonga and whānau feedback When we first started doing Spheros we got to choose our buddy. We decided to go with Alicia because she has kindness, trust, and curiosity. Alicia gave us the instructions and she gave us a turn first before she did. What I enjoyed about my older buddy is that she was very creative with the obstacles course that we made, and we had so much fun with Alicia. I learnt a lot of things about Spheros.

Naleiya, Year 4 I learned a lot about the international space station through VR. My buddies were Naleiya and Alicia. Naleiya was number 1, I was number 2 and Alicia was number 3. I had fun at the VR because I got to learn about the international space station. Tatyana, Year 3 I have noticed some growth. The work Aimee puts into preparing for her debates, and the eagerness to do them is not something I would have thought possible given her shyness. It is effortless to manage her learning at home.

With Aimee’s engagement with the work, the only problem we have is getting her to stop and have breaks.

Mark, Aimee’s father, Year 6 Omna seems to have made some deep connections with some of the older children, bonding over similar interests.

He comes home wanting to talk more about what he did, who he hung out with and what he learned.

Kreepa, Omna’s mother, Year 1 I often see older children say very genuine ‘hellos’ to Indigo, and I’m really happy to see this. It seems like there is a genuine mutual respect between the younger children and the older children, and this makes me feel like it would strengthen his sense of belonging at the school. I feel like this kind of mutual respect would help younger children to feel ‘protected’ or ‘supported’. Luke, Indigo’s father, Year 1

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Chromebooks were gifted by LEL to Year 8 Sylvia Park School students, who were fantastic cultural ambassadors on the last New Zealand/Korea programme.

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GLO BAL CITIZENSH I P

Digital exchanges a gift of culture sharing, global awareness A digital exchange programme between children in New Zealand and South Korea is supporting ākonga to become global citizens, while making some friends along the way.

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ore than 1,200 New Zealand and international school students have taken part in a digital exchange programme, which has helped them develop leadership skills and cultural understanding, and establish friendships without borders.

The exchange started out last year as a pilot programme facilitated by Learn English Live (LEL) and supported by Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao (ENZ). A few schools in South Korea, and Sylvia Park School in Tāmaki Makaurau initially took part, but by the end of the year the programme had grown with participation from more than 30 schools in both countries. With positive feedback from both home and abroad, the programme is being extended further.

Responses were positive from both a New Zealand and Korean point of view, says William Clarke from Learn English Live.

Around 70 percent of New Zealand students said they made a South Korean friend through the digital exchange forums while South Korean students highlighted the improvement in their English language skills.

Now Japanese schools – and even a school in Italy – have come on board.

ENZ and LEL initially began a partnership with two education organisations in South Korea; Gangwon International Education Institute and the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education.

Each week students from both countries meet online, and converse in English, and also exchange cultural learnings. This model enables students to teach and learn from one another, and execute a successful peer-to-peer model William says students are given guidelines to help stimulate conversation, but are encouraged to take the lead themselves within their online groups.

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Students and teachers from Gangwon province in South Korea engage with local students from Tāmaki Makaurau.

“It is not necessarily language learning but more about cross-cultural relationships and friendships.”

William Clarke

Using Zoom, they move into breakout rooms with a mix of New Zealand and international students. Trained facilitators move between the rooms and check that things are going well.

They then gather back together in the main room to reaffirm the learning of the exchange and reflect on how it all went. But William says each session is different.

To further enhance these cultural exchanges, a collaborative approach is used whereby teachers from ‘both sides’ co-create the content and lesson plans. And although the students are given these as guidelines, they can deviate from this as they see fit.

William says this not only assists with providing structured learning for students, but also empowers teachers to take the lead as they build their confidence to work with international students.

He says it is not necessarily language learning but more about cross-cultural relationships and friendships.

While the video medium can seem a little more comforting than meeting in-person for international students, William says the sessions were scaffolded so that the New Zealand children took the lead in the beginning – transitioning into more of a 50-50 model as the exchange progressed.

The classes are run during school hours and content is linked to The New Zealand Curriculum. Teachers can tap into the classes as a resource for a wide range of uses.

The sessions are also in line with ENZ’s goal to develop global citizens as part of the New Zealand International Education Strategy 2018-2030.

Curriculum links

LEL online facilitators and New Zealand ākonga showcase a New Zealand school to their South Korean counterparts.

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Sylvia Park learning support coordinator Teri Teei says the link with the English curriculum includes such skills as speaking and presenting.

But it is flexible – even fitting into social sciences, if they might be learning a concept such as global citizenship.

“The beauty with New Zealand teachers is that they are really creative, so they say ‘I could take it and just use it for this’ so even though we show them the links and also the links to the key competencies, it’s like a menu choice,” says Teri.

One school in Korea’s Gangwon province even requested for the exchange to be centred around STEM. Schools are already using virtual learning platform ‘gather town’ and LEL is currently looking at how to incorporate this into the programme. Teri says this is in line with the digital curriculum and developing digital skills, while other skills include global citizenship and whakawhanaungatanga – relationship building.

“You could look at the whole curriculum, and say ‘yes there’s that, yeap, there’s that’, definitely the key competencies – really strong in there,” says Teri.

She adds that students developed their cultural understanding and some students pointed out the value of learning to not accidentally offend someone. Many were looking ahead to becoming global travellers and wanted to know more about what to expect and how to behave when visiting another country.

The programme is a good way for some students in lowdecile schools who might not otherwise have a chance for such a cultural exchange, says Teri.

William also emphasises relationship building, cultural understanding and leadership skills developed in the programme, “especially from such a young age”.

“You are asking these students to not just lead and present a gazette.education.govt.nz

lesson but you’re asking them to do that to a stranger at the very beginning. And I never had an opportunity like that when I was their age,” he says.

From a Korean perspective, a teacher reported that children were shy to use their English at first.

Hyesung ‘Zoe’ Lee, a teacher from Buron Middle School in Korea, commented that some of the Korean students were quiet at times, but that was because they didn’t know what to say. For many of them, it was the first time to talk to foreigners and they were nervous and excited.

Zoe is keen to extend the programme, and already has ideas about what future sessions could include, such as an introduction to traditional Korean crafts and games.

Culture share

The aforementioned Korean school focusing on STEM had a practical approach, sending over materials for Sylvia Park students to make things out of, such as ‘Jegi Chagi’ – a traditional toy.

Then the New Zealand students would teach their Korean peers weaving, or how to make poi.

Sylvia Park School students participating in this part of the exchange also shared Māori stories, such as that of Maui and the sun, and then worked with the Korean students to create their version of a trap to catch the sun. Koreans would then reply in kind with their own traditional story.

“Every school in New Zealand can bring their own flavour or their own culture share. It’s all about showcasing their school as well,” says Teri.

That uniqueness takes in not just national culture, but the nature of each school involved, adds William.

This can lead to some unique and humorous experiences.

One such exchange occurred when some students from Sylvia Park took their laptops around the school on the last day – showing the marae, school grounds and greenhouse.

“Sylvia Park has some pet kunekune pigs and I just remember this camera slowly panning to these pigs and you see all these Korean kids’ eyes light up. And I have this feeling that somewhere in Korea there’s a bunch of kids that think that every New Zealand school has these kunekune pigs in them,” laughs William.

Similarly, Opononi Area School had shown video footage of their area, perhaps leading their Korean counterparts to believe all New Zealanders lived near the beach. And further understanding comes from practical experience, such as some students trying out their Korean language skills to bemused proprietors of a Chinese-owned store.

A few further surprises are surely in store as ākonga increase their global awareness and progress towards becoming global citizens.

LEL has an upcoming programme with South Korean schools in term 2. If your classroom, school or community would like to participate in one of these exchange sessions, contact William Clarke at info@learnengish-live.com.

11 April 2022

Kaiako and ākonga experience It might be useful later in life – knowing about their customs and not to accidentally offend anyone. William, 11, Sylvia Park School It boosts your confidence and your ability to speak clearly.

Taezjha, 11, Sylvia Park School I really enjoyed talking to the Korean students, it was a great opportunity for me to teach them some English as well as learning some Korean words and sentences. I enjoyed meeting new people across New Zealand as well. Vao Matua-Kuresa, former Papakura High School student One of our students made an instant connection with one of the Korean students. They were similar in age and when they talked to each other, they discovered that they had similar hobbies as well. They have now connected on social media. Ashley, teacher at Rowendale Primary School My son has really come out of his shell. He loves talking with the Koreans and thinks that he now has ‘real friends’ from the other side of the globe. Mother of Lucas, 9, Rowandale Primary School I and all my students were very glad to participate in such a great opportunity. Actually, most of them are having their first experience of communicating with foreigners. So they are very nervous, but at the same time, looking forward to each session. Teacher from Seongdeok Girls’ Middle School, Korea Korean students are so excited to talk about what they did and they are so interested in the New Zealanders. Teacher from Buron Middle School, Korea

Is your school or kura interested in international programmes?

Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao is the government agency responsible for taking New Zealand’s education experiences to the world. With offices in New Zealand and 13 global locations, their role is to deliver the Government’s vision for international education by promoting Aotearoa New Zealand as an excellent education and student experience. To address the unprecedented challenges presented by the Covid pandemic, ENZ is playing a key role in developing a resilient, sustainable and globally competitive sector.

For more information, visit enz.govt.nz

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WORKF ORC E

Equitable access to relievers among regions Many schools already share relievers amongst each other. Waikanae School, which administers a reliever pool among 14 schools, has found a way to achieve this in an efficient and equitable way.

Bevan Campbell with Waikanae School manager Fiona Charters who work together to supply relievers

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F

or Bevan Campbell, principal of Waikanae School, the concept of kāhui ako is not new.

“We (Ōtaki and Kāpiti schools) have been collaborating for decades, literally, long before kāhui ako.”

Some of the ways in which this collaboration takes place includes networks for principals, administrators, specialist teachers, and international students. There are also music outreach, student learning, and science fair networks.

Another of the many ways that this Community of Learning (COL) collaborates is through the shared administration of the Ōtaki Kāpiti Relief Teacher Service (RTS). This is a network that is primarily tasked with placing relief (emergency/sick leave) teachers into the participating schools. The network has been running for over 25 years.

The advantage of creating reliever pools for the schools is that it allows all the schools to benefit from the collective effort. Schools can reduce time spent trying to find and vet an emergency reliever as this is done by one school rather than being replicated by each school. For the relievers it opens up a wider selection of schools to choose from rather than feeling they are tied to certain schools.

“Schools may think ‘if I tell anyone about my relievers, they may steal them’ but that is a non-issue. Every reliever has their favourite school, and every school has its favourite relievers, that does not change when you pool your relievers, so you don’t lose anyone,” says Bevan.

Traditionally one of the schools (Raumati Beach or Raumati South) would manage the vetting and assigning of relievers manually.

“They employed support staff and we all would pay into the service, then they would find relief teachers for us. But it was pretty cumbersome,” Bevan explains.

“Some schools would use it for everything such as classroom release time, while others only used it for emergency staffing. So, some of us were paying a lot and not receiving much compared to others that were paying the same amount.”

Improved access

In 2018 Bevan was introduced to an app solution called Staff Sync, designed to provide easy access to relievers.

Waikanae School started to use the app for their nonemergency relievers. Then in 2019 the opportunity arose to spread its use to the other schools.

“The person who was doing the manual day-to-day work resigned, so the role was given to our school as the other school where she was based didn’t want to continue to run it. So, I thought, ‘why not use our app?’ Here was an opportunity to change the way the system operated. Every party still wanted to have the reliever scheme and here was a way to make it more efficient and equitable.”

The solution allows relief teachers to register with Staff Sync and then select schools by sending them a request to be their preferred reliever. Relievers can update their availability, so they are only contacted on the days that they are looking for relieving work.

“Covid-19 has had an impact on the relief teacher pool, due to some of our relievers choosing not to work to reduce their chances of getting the virus,” says Bevan.

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He adds that although they have 93 relievers on their register, last year there were only about 50 who were making themselves available.

The schools can use their own personal subscription to pre-book relief teachers. For emergency bookings schools contact the RTS coordinator Karen Noakes. Karen then uses the app to find available relief teachers on a first come, first served basis.

“The old system was very labour intensive and took a lot of time, it was almost a full time position. So, we’ve swapped a full time position out for five hours a week of emergency staffing, plus the schools are able to individually book relievers from our collective pool,” says Bevan.

Time and cost effective

There are fixed charges that the schools pay in accordance with the size of the school. These charges cover the laptop, phone, and administration. Then there are the user pays charges.

The system means that schools are still paying a fee even if they do not use the service, but the costs of the fixed fee is considerably less than it was under the previous system.

The user-pay system for bookings reduces disparity of expense for schools.

Waikanae School only charges the actual costs, and sometimes less than that for some labour intensive aspects.

“We do all the checking on the relievers. We guarantee that they are all referenced and compliant,” says Bevan.

Whilst it is time consuming for Waikanae School, the shared pool means these tasks are not being duplicated by each school – creating time efficiency overall.

Equality and efficiency are important, given the number of jobs that are generated for the Ōtaki and Kāpiti schools.

In 2021 there were 482 jobs for emergency relief work via the emergency coordinator, with 93 percent of these jobs being filled. These jobs generated 3,901 notifications, which adds up to a lot of phone time under a manual system.

Bevan highly recommends using a solution such as this in a collaborative way.

“The collaborative solution empowers us. It empowers both schools and relieving teachers. It’s a really equitable and fair way of using relievers across a district.” he says.

See more information about this app at staffsync.com/relievers

There are various reliever sharing solutions that can be utilised by schools. Talk to your regional Ministry of Education office about ways in which schools in your particular region or kāhui ako can collaborate effectively.

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Is your school an awesome place for students?

How does your school contribute to the vision to make Aotearoa NZ the ‘best place in the world for children and young people’?

What would your students say?

Student Wellbeing Measures Project The Ministry of Education is undertaking a Student Wellbeing Measures project that commences in phase 1 with actively listening to the voice of students and ākonga to understand what ‘student wellbeing’ looks like for students in schools across Aotearoa NZ. This information will help us develop a consistent set of measures of student wellbeing that may be used to support schools to monitor, respond and improve student wellbeing.

Students in Years 7-13 are invited to directly engage in this project to have their say. This period of engagement is open until 30 June 2022.

Schools are invited to support student engagement through Ministry provided in-class and online learning options.

Class handbooks and resources are provided.

Please contact the Project Team at edkstudent.measures@education.govt.nz or directly indicate your school’s interest and order your resources here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MOEWellbeingfeedback

NOTICEB OARD

Maths Teachers

Best School Trip Competition Get your class to email a 200 word article with photos describing their best school trip and be in the draw to win $250 for your school.

Reduce Workload and Stress (Years 11-13) Use our Editable Assessment Masters, Internal and End of Year.

Entries will be printed in Education Beyond the Classroom distributed to schools with the Education Gazette on 23rd May 2022.

www.sincos.co.nz

Entries close 15 April 2022.

Email entries to Jill Parker (04) 915 9798 jill.parker@nzme.co.nz

SINCOS Mission Statement: Reducing Teacher Workload GEN ERAL VACANCI ES

Kairangahau Māori Māori Education Research and Development Opportunity Rangahau Mātauranga o Aotearoa — New Zealand Council for Educational Research Develop your interest or experience in Māori Education Research & Development in a leading educational research organisation.

We are looking for another kaimahi to join Te Wāhanga - our Māori research team. You will deliver high-quality research contributing to transformational change that benefits Māori. We’re committed to strengthening our expertise in Māori medium education, Te Marautanga o Aotearoa and aromatawai. We work across a wide range of areas from te reo Māori revitalisation, Māori medium education, and Māori education and development to curriculum development, ākonga wellbeing, and policy evaluation.

Our people have expertise in research and practice and are strongly connected to the education sector in Aotearoa New Zealand. We are actively committed to honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi and upholding mana Māori in our work, relationships, and ways of working. Māori language, culture and identity underpin all our practices.

Ko te manu e kai ana i te miro, nōna te ngahere Ko te manu e kai ana i te mātauranga, nōna te ao!

Applicants should have: » knowledge of Māori medium education (including the broader context of Māori education) » interest in developing methodological expertise in kaupapa Māori research » experience as a classroom kaiako within the Māori medium sector is an advantage » sound knowledge of applying Te Tiriti o Waitangi in an education context » deep understanding/command of te reo and tikanga Māori, and mātauranga Māori » passion for making a difference for ākonga Māori.

To apply and for more information about the position, please visit our website: https://www.nzcer.org.nz/news/kairangahau-m-ori-m-ori-researcheropportunity-m-ori-education-research-and-development Applications close 10 May 2022.

S E N IOR LEADERSH I P Y0-8 VACANCI ES We are seeking a passionate principal/tumuaki who brings a tikanga Māori approach to lead our special character school which mirrors a commitment to kaupapa Māori principles.

They will have high expectations for all our tamariki and will exhibit strong leadership in our community. Our new principal will recognise marae-based learning which relates to the urban history and the place of manawhenua to this marae. Our new principal/tumuaki will lead collaboratively and value all staff and the skills they bring to their roles. They will be strongly relational and nurture unity and kotahitanga.

They will be able to translate a passion for Mātauranga Māori and The New Zealand Curriculum into improved outcomes for students

PRINCIPAL/ TUMUAKI Located in Favona, South Auckland U2 Roll of 75

Position commences Term 3, 2022 or as negotiated. The Application Pack is available from www.educationgroup.co.nz under Appointments.

Completed applications are to be received by Friday 6 May 2022 and should be emailed to: admin@educationgroup.co.nz If you have any queries, please contact Tanya Prentice (Office Manager for The Education Group) by phoning 09 920 2173 or Nicky Knight 021 420 299

LEADERSH I P VACANCI ES

To view the PLD, general notice listings and vacancies at gazette.education.govt.nz Scan the QR codes with the camera on your device.

PLD

NOTICES

VACANCIES

Principal U5 Decile 1, 305 students Mangere, Auckland Kingsford is situated in the heart of Mangere and is a culturally diverse school with a supportive community. Our strong representation of Pasifika and Māori gives Kingsford a unique flavour which we value and embrace. We use pedagogies and approaches underpinned by āko, cultural sustainability, reciprocity and those which value everyone’s identity, language and culture.

PRINCIPAL

U6. Position commencing Term 3 2022

Our highly respected Principal is moving on, providing a rare opportunity for the right person to step up in their career and help lead our school into the future. We are a multi-ethnic learning community situated in Pakuranga, East Auckland.

We seek a passionate educator with the ability to develop high trust relationships with students, staff and parents. It is expected our new Principal will have leadership experience where the ability to achieve high educational outcomes has been demonstrated.

To request an application pack with further information please contact Ian Fox, FoxEd Education Consultants Ltd ian@fox.co.nz APPLICATIONS CLOSE: FRIDAY 22ND APRIL

We are seeking a Leader who will: • Honour, strengthen and celebrate our rich diversity • Connect with and engage our whanau and families • Demonstrate current educational best practice and leadership • Set high expectations for progress and achievement of all our ākonga.

• Lead with passion and Integrity This is an exciting opportunity to lead Kingsford School forward. We are proud of our school and look forward to welcoming a passionate leader who will work with our staff and community to continue to build upon the excellent foundations here.

Visits are welcomed.

Applications close on Friday 6th May at 3:00pm.

Position commencing on 25th July 2022 or as negotiated.

An application pack is available at www.educationgroup.co.nz Any queries please contact Tanya Prentice or Julie Schumacher at admin@educationgroup.co.nz or 09 920 2173

Kaiako Māori ki ngā Kura Tuarua o Whakatū (Te Tauihu) Nā tō rourou, nā taku rourou, ka ora ai te iwi.

Kei te kimi kia tokorua ngā kaiako auaha, kaiako tautōhito ki te whakatūwhera, ki te ārahi i te kaupapa rumaki reo ki Te Kura Tamatāne o Whakatū me Te Kura Taitamawāhine o Whakatū.

Ko te rumaki reo nei e taunaki ana i ngā akonga o ngā akomanga reo rua o ngā kura tuatahi o Whakatū.

Ko te tūranga tuatahi ka timata hei te wāhanga tuarua me te wāhanga tuatoru o tēnei tau. Ko te whāinga tuatahi ki te mahitahi ki ngā kura, ngā whānau me ngā iwi ki te whakarite i te kaupapa mō tēnei rumaki reo.

Me mātau te kaiako ki te whakaako i ngā marau Reo Ingarihi, Tikanga ā iwi me te reo Māori mā nga akonga tau 9, tau 10 hoki. Ka āwhina te kaiako ki te whakarite rauemi e hāngai ana ki te reo me ōna tikanga o ngā iwi o Whakatū.

Whakapā mai ki te hēkeretari o te Tumuaki mō ngā taipito kōrero me tētahi puka tono i jo@nelsoncollege.school.nz i Te Kura Tamatāne o Whakatū.

Tonoa mai i mua i te Rāpare 21 o Paenga Whāwhā

48

Education Gazette

gazette.education.govt.nz

Carmel College

Principal U 8 | Decile 9 | 980 Students (Special Character Position)

Deputy Principal (4 PMU & 1 FMU) Campbells Bay School is one of the largest primary schools in New Zealand. We are passionate about our school community, students and amazing staff. Our positive staff culture is founded on high expectations balanced with strong well-being practices.

We are seeking applications from equally passionate educators with an inclusive leadership style that inspires, motivates and empowers others, while keeping student well-being and achievement at the heart of decision-making. Our new Deputy Principal will be a dynamic and engaging leader who will guide our school through its next phase of development by ensuring we continue to build on the excellent foundation that is already in place for our school community.

The Deputy Principal will join two other Deputy Principals, fully released leading across the school.

Situated in a stunning environment with extensive grounds and gardens, Carmel College is a high performing Catholic secondary school for girls, located on the shores of Lake Pupuke in Milford on Auckland’s North Shore.

We are proudly Catholic and live the values of Jesus Christ, in the Mercy tradition of our founder, Catherine McAuley. The Carmel learning community is committed to educating and developing young Catholic women who will always strive for excellence in all their academic, sporting, and cultural endeavours.

Our new Principal will be committed to modelling excellence in leadership and education. They will encourage innovation and future focussed thinking and will have sound educational pedagogy, leadership and management experience. They will be an excellent communicator and relationship builder and have a sound understanding of and commitment to meeting our obligations to our community under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Applications close 3:00 pm Friday 6th May. Appointment commences 25th July 2022 or as negotiated.

Application packs are available from www.educationgroup.co.nz/campbellsbay

Application pack available at www.educationgroup.co.nz/carmelcollege

Applications close 12:00 noon, Monday 9 May 2022.

Any queries contact Tanya Prentice or Julie Schumacher admin@educationgroup.co.nz or 09 920 2173

Please contact Tanya Prentice, the Office Manager or Jan Hill at The Education Group at admin@educationgroup.co.nz or 09 920 2173 if you need further information.

PRINCIPAL / TUMUAKI St. John’s College, Hastings is a Catholic state-integrated boys’ school for Years 9 - 13, established by the Society of Mary in the heart of Hawke’s Bay in 1941.

Our College has a diverse multi-cultural roll of approximately 410 students with a strong Mäori and Pasifika representation.

We are justly proud of our Catholic special character, high levels of academic achievement, impressive sports success and excellence in arts and culture.

We teach our young men to be independent, resilient, and able to make informed decisions about the complexities of modern-day life, grounded in Christian values. This is the vision of a ‘St. John’s Man’.

As our new faith and education leader you will: • Be an active and committed Catholic who will embrace our Marist charism • Provide strong, inspirational, innovative faith and education leadership

• Have a deep understanding of the New Zealand Curriculum and be passionate about boys’ education • Continue to build and strengthen strong relationships across our community • Celebrate diversity and value inclusiveness

• A willingness and ability to participate in religious • Be committed to the Catholic Church’s commitment instruction appropriate to the special character of the to bicultural partnership by honouring the principles of school is a condition of appointment.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi - Partnership, Protection and Participation Applications close 5pm on Tuesday, 26th April 2022

For confidential enquiries or to request an application pack, please contact our Board presiding member, Tessa Barrett on: 021 159 4614 or email board@stjohns.school.nz

St John’s College Holistic Education • Attaining Excellence